We don’t appear to have a 2011 thread yet–post-season stuff was still going on the 2010 thread. So I’m starting a new thread with this scintillating article:
They suspended Dez Bryant 10 games (including the Cotton Bowl) for lying about his relationship with Deion Sanders. How could they not suspend Tressel for at least the season?
A full season suspension is probably the minimum penalty in this case, really. What I wonder is how long Ohio State stands behind the guy. Missing five games (his volunteer penalty) is bad enough, but what happens if its a year? Or if they throw in some recruiting limitations or bans? At some point keeping him around makes no sense anymore no matter how good he’s been at winning games.
He’s taking the fall for the entire athletics department. Why would they get rid of him? Do you really believe nobody else there knew what was going on?
Right now that seems to be EXACTLY what the NCAA believes. The letter to the school announcing the investigation specifically mentions that tOSU may escape the worst of their penalties because the NCAA does not think the problems at the school are “institutional”–right now the NCAA is of the belief that this is a Jim Tressel problem and not a Buckeye Athletic Department problem.
I have seen no evidence to the contrary of this, either. In Columbus they’ve prided themselves on the idea that their program is clean and above the shady goings-on one finds at some of the football-mad schools in the SEC, for instance.
Right now, it looks like this could be building to an end game ouster for The Vest.
If the NCAA thought any one else knew they would’ve slapped down the dreaded “LACK OF INSTITUTIONAL CONTROL”.
I think OSU isn’t out of the woods yet though. They’re definitely vacating wins and getting a bowl ban.
As was pointed out on the radio I was listening to today, USC was slapped with suspensions, bans and scholarship losses over the Reggie Bush thing and they only ever “convicted” a low-level sub-coach in the program of actually doing anything wrong. In OSU’s case, it was the head coach. They will quite probably get at least what USC got.
but in USC’s case, there were also basketball allegations going on at the same time, and yet I don’t recall seeing that they ever got slapped with the “institutional control” thing, did they? If they didn’t, OSU could well be in the clear on that issue.
Yeah, the NCAA seems to think the issues related to the players are now resolved to their satisfaction and all this is about Tressel now. But there are only so many things that the NCAA can do to coaches directly, which is why I think they are going to go down the path of signficant game bans and recruiting restrictions/bans.
While we’re on the subject of improper benefits:
USC self imposed a lot of sanctions preemptively for basketball which helped out some as the NCAA largely accepted the sanctions we put on ourselves for that one.
There was also some stuff with women’s volley ball and possibly a few other non revenue sports and improper usage of phone cards for international calls, but I don’t remember it well.
Pac-12 to announce TV contract worth $225m-$250m annually tomorrow (per ESPN, SJ Mercury News- Jon Wilner, and Sports Business Journal). This is the largest conference media rights package out there, and it still allows the Pac-12 to create it’s own network…
Pretty huge deal. The conference championship will be alternated between ESPN and Fox and each school will get about $21m/year. Note that schools like Washington State have total athletic budgets of $30m.
Yeah, it’s a huge boost for Oregon State, too. Supposedly their athletics dept runs like an 8 million dollar a year deficit right now, but the new TV deal should put them hugely in the black.
EDSBS has a brilliantly hilarious take on the Pac-12 megadeal
Quite a number of Texas fans on Shaggybevo are now pissed. If UT/OU and the rest had joined the Pac-16, $30 million/school/year is very feasible. The two largest states in the country, the natural rivalry and tension between California and Texas even without football, etc, etc, etc.
That was pretty funny, thanks for sharing that. ;-)
The Pac benefitted from being last, basically, of the major conferences to get new deals. So Fox and ESPN didn’t want to be left out. Plus there are several top 20 media markets in the conference, so there is TV demand just based on that.
Texas will be fine in the end, what with their own network. The schools that should be the angriest about A&M should be the other schools that would have gone into the new Pac with Texas.
Edit: Also, the Pac 12 football championship will be played on a Friday night in Eastern timezone primetime.
Q: What’s your favorite pre-game ritual?
A: Well, I take a doodoo. Before every game I doodoo.
Q: That’s your FAVORITE pregame ritual?
A: Well, that’s the only thing I do. That’s one thing I have to do before every game, or I won’t feel energy, and I’ll just feel slow. When I do I just feel light on my feet and everything, and I feel faster, so that’s what I do.
Q: You know I’m going to write this in a story right?
A: Well, I mean, that’s what it is. I doodoo and then listen to Katy Perry.
That’s incoming Florida WR recruit, Ja’Juan Story.
He listens to Katy Perry? EWWWW - that has no place in a respectable news story.
I want to send him a little Aladdin vest now.
OU linebacker Austin Box dead from a possible overdose. Very sad.
The El Reno police officer who responded to the house where Box was found this morning wrote in his report that another person at the house was attempting to perform CPR on Box when he arrived and told the officer he believed Box had overdosed. Earlier, the same person told 911 operators that Box “takes pain pills and he’s not responding to me.” Under a section marked “Offense Category,” the police report lists “Controlled Dangerous Substance.”
YES BUT WHERE WAS HE ON THE DEPTH CHART